| CHAPTER 34 : SEDUCING DINOSAURS |

The shock that I felt at that moment couldn't match the seething anger radiating off King Alpha. He seemed to be expanding in size as he got angrier.

"What? But you're a warlock and he's a werewolf!" I pointed out.

Ace clasped his hands behind his back, "You stated the obvious, correct."

"It doesn't make sense. You're Derek not his father."

"Derek? All evil powerful witch Derek?" Ace scoffed with a laugh, "Not really, little girl."

What? This doesn't make sense. This doesn't make sense at all! He's a warlock, and King Alpha's a werewolf. They can't be father and son.

"Argh!" I exclaimed in frustration raising my hand towards Ace, "I'm angry too right now!"

"What are you gonna do? Blast me with your magic?" He gave me a sour look.

"I could." I challenged.

Ace gave me a bored look, before flicking his fingers. My hands automatically pinned against my sides as my legs joined together. I tried pulling my hands away from my body or even to separate my legs from each other, but it was as if something had wrapped around my body like a baby's blanket preventing me from moving.

"Blast me now." Ace challenged.

I opened my mouth to throw curses at him, but even my mouth was clamped shut. I glared at Ace's smirking face.

"Anyways," he turned towards King Alpha, "we both get what we want. Just give me Lucretia's crown."

King Alpha stayed silent for a while, gazing at Ace with calculating steady eyes before he finally spoke, "I think I'll keep the crown."

"You sure?" Ace spoke, "you don't want your mother back. You don't want to tell her how sorry you are for all that you did. Sorry for how you killed Alexandros."

Everything moved in a flash.

King Alpha was no longer in his place but on Ace, gripping his neck to the ground. He growled menacingly at his face; canines pointed out almost tearing Ace's skin.

"Alpha!" Katia exclaimed in surprise.

"You do not take his name." King Alpha warned, his voice was no longer deep but an animalistic growl as he squeezed Ace's neck.

Ace's warlocks surrounded us in a flash to come and help their leader. Levi unsheathed his blades, ready to defend and protect his king.

But Ace motioned his warlocks to get down with a flicker of his hand.

"I only want...our family to...get together." Ace mange to speak.

King Alpha lowered his face dangerously close to Ace, snarling his razor-sharp fangs, "You don't get to have a family after you ruined us all."

"Me?" Ace choked out a laugh before gritting his teeth, "it was you who killed our family one...by...one. First Alexandros...then Leona. Your poor...sweet...mother."

King Alpha's hand tightened around Ace's neck, the anger attracting all the darkness in the room to his face, "I said, don't take his name."

"Why? Makes you feel guilty?"

King Alpha snarled.

"Okay play time's over." Saying that Ace flicked his fingers and King Alpha went flying off him, slamming into a wall.

Ace stood up to his feet, dusting himself and straightening his suit.

King Alpha came out of his momentary shock of being thrown across the hall and got onto his all fours. His body enlarged as he somewhat shifted to his wolf form. His lips were pulled back into a snarl, as he growled before charging at Ace.

Ace threw blue balls of flame at King Alpha with his hand, but King Alpha managed to dodge them all.

Everyone around us standing still and tensed watching the fight with fearful eyes. Levi and Katia stood tense on either side of me, not going into the fight and stopping King Alpha or Ace. If I wanted to move, I couldn't.

When King Alpha got closer to Ace, Ace raised his hand and closed his hand into a fist. King Alpha paused in his place, wide-eyed, and crumpled to the ground, whimpering in pain as if someone stepped on his tail.

It took two seconds for King Alpha to recover as he stood back onto his fours. He growled, giving Ace the most malicious look I've ever seen. Seeing the look on King Alpha made me want to climb up the vent and curl into myself and cry.

I wanted this to stop.

I want them to stop fighting.

I tried pulling against the invisible restraints that bind my body together, but it was no use.

"You would have fought much better if you just used your magic." Ace said, a smug look on his face.

King Alpha gave him a raised brow before shrugging and raising his hand at Ace, "now I'm going to turn you into an asshole," he paused for a second, "oh look, it worked."

Levi clamped a hand on his mouth to stop laughing despite the situation.

Ace's nostrils flared and he raised his hand, firing a flame ball King Alpha's way. King Alpha dodged the fireball easily but what he didn't notice was Ace firing two more fireballs at once.

They hit King Alpha square in the chest, making him stagger back and fall to the ground with a grunt.  

Before King Alpha could get up, Ace fired more flame balls at him, making King Alpha wither and groan in pain.

"You always disrespected me no matter what I did for you." Ace claimed, walking closer to King Alpha's breathing-hard body.

"No one gets a 'thanks' for getting stabbed in the back." King Alpha managed to respond, trying to keep in his groans of pain.

"I've had enough of you lately," Ace started firing another flame ball at King Alpha, "Someone's gotta teach you a lesson."

"On how to be sexy?" King Alpha asked, "yeah I've already mastered that."

Ace's nostrils flared again, and he raised both his hands, ready to fire at King Alpha.

I couldn't watch it anymore. I closed my eyes and did the willing and imagining thing. I willed for my limbs to unbound and for us all to magically teleport back to Saludom. I willed harder, feeling Ace's flame ball getting ready in a distance. Warmth spread through my chest at lightning speed and before I could control it or even decipher it, it shot out through my skin like invisible lasers.

"What the hell?" I heard King Alpha mutter.

I opened my eyes with a gasp. Then gasped again when the surroundings changed. We were no longer in the hall room but in a basement parking lot with dark walls surrounding us.

Across me, were Ace and King Alpha. Ace stood above King Alpha, as he was still on the ground. No one else was here.

Ace noticed me after coming out of his momentary stump and flared angrily, "You." He pointed at me. "What the hell did you do?"

"Something...cool?" Surprise fills me now that I can talk. I can even move my arms and legs now!

"Why did you teleport us to the tower basement parking?" Ace demanded.

"To have a lap dance session," I responded making King Alpha snort, "there are gonna be strippers, men with creepy smirk as they stare at half-naked ladies with music that makes no sense."

Ace glared and seemed as if he's deciding to fire my ass instead of King Alpha's.

I rolled my eyes, "Just kidding, dude. How would I know why we're in the basement? I just willed for you people to stop fighting."

"Instead you took us to a place where most fights break out." King Alpha huffed.

"Hey, I was trying to save you." I pointed a finger at King Alpha, glaring at him.

"I don't need saving." King Alpha scoffed, trying to get up. "Especially from a broken doorbell."

I gasped, offended.

"Oh okay," I said, "Lemme just sit back here, watching you get your ass on fire with Ace's blue balls."

King Alpha burst out laughing, clutching his stomach, literally rolling on the floor, "Ace's blue balls." He wheezed as tears almost spilled from his eyes. "I can't...breathe." He was full-on cackling right now. "You hear that old man? Your blue balls."

Ace's chest rose and he inhaled sharply, his eyes flashing dark with rage.

"I meant the fire - the magic!" I yelled, before face-palming myself, "but of course anything I say makes you horny."

King Alpha regained himself from almost dying of laughter, he propped himself on his elbow not bothering to get off the ground. "Perks of being a man with still an active cock. Ace's deceased long ago."

"My dick is fine!" Ace yelled, red from embarrassment before realizing what he had blurted out, "I mean - I'm completely healthy!"

"Hmm I don't think so." King Alpha said. "How old are you again? I bet you've tried seducing dinosaurs. Explains why they're extinct."

If Ace wasn't angry, he sure is now.

"I've had enough of you two sitting there and disrespecting me!" He yelled before throwing a fireball at King Alpha's calmly laid body.

King Alpha, not expecting that, got hit with the fireball on his chest and grunted, doubling over.

I immediately perked up with wide eyes.

Ace fired flames after flames not giving King Alpha a chance to move. The flames were now visibly burning King Alpha as he couldn't keep in his groans.

"Hey!" I yelled. "Leave him!" I raised my hand - and thanked the gods - when flames shot out from my hands without any glitching or misdirection and slammed right onto Ace's head.

He toppled to the ground hissing in pain.

But that lasted only seconds before he sprung off the floor. He vanished right before my eyes. Warmth radiated behind me and before I could turn around, hands grabbed my neck from behind, pushing me down until I was bent and forced to kneel. I shrieked.

"You little bitch." Ace hissed, his hand large enough to clamp around my whole neck, squeezing it until darkness clouded the side of my vision.

I tried clawing his hand off but he was far too strong.

Before I thought I would pass out, Ace's hand suddenly disappeared from my neck, making me fall helplessly to the ground, wheezing.      

"You do not touch her," King Alpha growled, landing a punch on Ace's side while holding him from the shoulder, "You do not look at her," King Alpha's eyes were glowing dark with unexplainable anger as he landed another punch, "You do not speak to her," he landed another punch, "You do not even breathe in her direction," King Alpha finished off with a final punch on Ace's chest, which sends him flying back and slamming on the walls.

Ace gasped and wheezed, laying on the ground and taking in deep breaths. I had regained by the time, sitting on the ground, legs weak to move.

"You've fallen...for another...one of the witch's...tricks." Ace said, coughing.

King Alpha raised an eyebrow at him in a threatening way.

"They fooled you...into killing your brother...and now they're fooling...you by giving you her."

Confusion envelops me on Ace's words but I'm pretty sure that 'her' is me.

"You should have killed her the moment you saw her," Ace gritted his teeth, straightening himself into a sitting position, "but you let yourself be weak again. You let yourself be vulnerable. You showed Derek and Rowena that you are capable of failing in your way."

King Alpha's eyes flashed darkly as his mouth pulled into a hard line, his shoulders tensed. Other than that, he showed no trace of other emotion.

"Kill her," Ace stated, "Kill her now and be done with this. Kill her and you'll be free from another one of the witch's tactics," he spoke making me inhale by the sudden sharpness and clarity in his voice, "Then you can give me Lucretia's crown. I can bring back Leona and Alexandros. You, I and Katia will have our family back."

King Alpha didn't speak. He was silent which made nervous and anxious feelings settle deep within my gut. He seemed to attract darkness from all around the basement, making him look sharp and deadly.

I held my breath, afraid of what's gonna happen. King Alpha could easily turn around and bite off my neck without me even knowing or blinking. I half expected him to do that.

He seemed deep in thought as if really considering Ace's words.

That's why he didn't notice when Ace raised his hand shot out a mega fireball at King Alpha. It happened all too quickly. King Alpha didn't have time to move out of the way. The fireball hit him square in the chest, sending him flying ten feet back, with his body sliding along the rough ground.

I expected King Alpha to get off the ground as soon as he stopped skidding, but he lay motionless, eyes closed and body limp.

I shot up from the ground, running towards him.

Behind me, Ace muttered something under his breath and disappeared into thin air.

I forgot Ace and rushed towards King Alpha kneeling beside him, worried and scared. I waited for him to open his eyes.

Why isn't he opening his eyes?

"God, are you dead?" I placed two fingers below his nose, "Phew you're breathing. Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god," I panicked, "this is my fault. You're not opening your eyes."

Why isn't he healing?

His t-shirt was burned at the front, revealing an, even more, burned chest with red and purple skin.

I don't know why was I panicking more, but I started to sob. Maybe because I don't like people getting hurt because of me. I should have never come to see Collin. I put Katia and Levi in trouble and now King Alpha isn't opening his eyes.

"Open your eyes," I said, weeping now, "Elias? Elias. Elias!" I started shaking his shoulders.

His hand shot out, seizing my wrist. My eyes snapped to his to see his glowing wild and golden. I didn't have time to blink. He flipped us over making me scream. His hand was on my throat, pushing me to the ground.

"What the fuck did you call me?" He growled, squeezing my neck further until chocked sobs escaped my mouth. He looked wild, feral and not himself. An animal had taken control of his body.

"Stop..." I choked.

His eyes were dark with anger. Gold molten lava swirled in his eyes as he snarled.

Before I thought he could squeeze my neck any further, someone appeared behind him, grabbed his shoulders and ripped him off me, throwing his body at least twenty feet away.

I gasped, wheezed, choked. Everything hurt.

Drew gave King Alpha a hard glare.

Levi appeared beside me, pulling me up on his lap and cradling me to his chest as I sobbed uncontrollably. He wiped my tears with the pad of his thumb.

"Is she alright?" Katia asked, concerned.

Levi gave her a shrug that said, 'kind of'.

She gave a tired sigh before her attention turned toward Drew.

King Alpha sprung off the ground, growling and seething. His eyes weren't normal. They were inhuman, glowing extremely wild. His lips pulled back into a snarl, displaying long razor-sharp canines.

"Get a grip of yourself, ami," Drew spoke calmly yet his shoulders seemed tense.

King Alpha growled in response.

His eyes found mine and I panicked all over again, almost beginning to thrash around Levi's lap. King Alpha was letting out growls like how a dog does when feeling threatened or preparing to attack.

Drew stood in a ready position as if to stop King Alpha if he does so.

"King," Drew spoke, "you need to come back to your senses. Don't let your monster take control over you."

King Alpha didn't seem to be hearing his words. His gaze was solely focused on me, and I could sense it from this distance. Of how much he wants to rip my heart out of my chest.

"Ami," Drew spoke more firmly.

King Alpha's eyes slid to his finally.

"Don't," said Drew, raising his hands as if taming a wild horse.

King Alpha let out another low growl.

"Don't let your beast out."

King Alpha growled once more before his golden eyes flickered as if losing focus for a moment. He blinked, shrinking back, rubbing his hand over his face. He stumbled a few steps back. He put down his hand, his eyes were almost back to normal. He looked at Drew, then at Katia who watched him anxiously and then at me, still wrapped beneath Levi's hand.

King Alpha gazed at me for the longest before returning his gaze to Drew, his mouth parting open as if realizing what he's done. 

And just like that, within a blink, he vanished.

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Date: 19 August 2021